(Opinion)Square-Enix is the worst video game company ever(besides Electronic Arts)

I have no intention to ruin your fun with Kingdom Hearts 3 but I just want to let you know about its developer and publisher, Square-Enix did in recent years. They have ruined many great games and I don't think they will stop as long as the westerners bought ever single of their games. Here's the list of their "deeds", feel free to add them:

1. They ruined Final Fantasy

The first and most obvious of them all is how they changed(I prefer word "ruined") Final Fantasy games from turn-based RPGs into an action-based one, with more emphasize on "action" than RPG. I think it began with thirteenth game in the franchise with first one is an "okay" game, a loose tribute to seventh and eighth games. However thing gets ugly with second game XIII-II where its gameplay reduced from three-people party of the first into two-people party and its got even worse in third one which further reduced into just one and you just play as Lightning alone. SE also try to make Lightning to be their sex symbol and it failed rather comically. After they failed to "sex-up" Lightning they decided to do they same with boys in FFXV, which shit hits the fan hard...

2. Final Fantasy XV and anything associates with it

FFXV is their most expensive and most glossed over of any FF game. It also the turning point where SE abandoned the traditional turn-based battle system for hack-and-slash action one with vast open world. Unfortunately it came out unfinished with some of its chapters are missing, no permanent playable female characters, too many DLCs for a single-player game and excessive amount product placements. I can spend an entire day writing about bad things this game but I want straight to the point, the worst one I can find, its portrayal of women. A weak, uncharismatic princess at best and slutty, c*ck-hungry bimbo at worst. I have no idea who's the target audiences of this game. It could be lonely Japanese women who worships countless of pretty boy bands who never cared them or a very, very sexist American men who hates women, saw them as nothing but sex objects. Feel free to disagree.

3. They killed Front Mission franchise

FF is not the only franchise SE ruined in recent years. Another unfortunate victim is Front Mission. First two games never saw western release due to zero demand. The third is the most successful one despite being Final Fantasy Tactics clone than a proper FM game. Fourth saw its return to original format but flopped in the west due to poor marketing. Fifth never saw western release due to the failure of the fourth and only some fans managed to translate the game into English years after its official release. Evolve is a Mechwarrior/Armored Core clone which their attempt to re-enter western market which also failed as well. In this year SE also try again with Left Alive, a Metal gear Solid clone with little wanzer vs wanzer battle and yet so many people thrilled for it thanks to good marketing and hype campaigns this time. Heck even its cover looks like a MGS game and it was designed by the same person. If the game fail yet again and LA could be FM's kiss of death and don't expect to see another FM game for many years to come.

As closing words I want to talk about I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear but those game weren't developed by SE, only published by them. Tokyo RPG factory should have been credited instead. Same goes with Quiet Man, their worst game ever published right now and still sold relatively quite well thanks to its TV commercial.

For Final Fantasy, their quest for innovation does hurt the franchise. They had to evolve, FF is the biggest 3rd party IP from japan, they can't stagnant the franchise. Ironically it hurts them more now.

They try very hard with Final Fantasy to make it appealling for USA market ... but it is crap and it is for a long long time ... FFX was the first of the down hill and then they merge with Enix and gave us X2 which was meh at best ... the idea was super cool but the execution was so bad ... just like XII, XIII saga and XV which is split across DVD and game and book I think...

I still hate Square for cancelling Sleeping Dogs 2 they had a new awesome IP and they gave up on it so fast. Sleeping Dogs to this day is still easily one of the best open world games of all time. It puts Watch Dogs and Saints Row to shame and I like those series. To me Sleeping Dogs is a higher quality then those games not GTA level but not that far away the pacing in SD feels so good especially for a open world title.Square had something special but they where to stupid to realize it.

Square-Enix screwed up the Final Fantasy franchise over the past 10 years. For me, it all started with Final Fantasy 13. What a disappointing, awful game. They went on to expand the XIII series with XII-2 and XIII-3 which wasn't up to the standard I was expecting.

Then they released Final Fantasy XV, a complete mess in terms of execution of the game. Square-Enix releases Final Fantasy XV Day One Edition, then release DLC, 16 months later they re-release the same game with additional content, then release more DLC... Disgraceful! For those who bought the game on day one, we feel cheated.

Final Fantasy Dissidia is one of the best Final Fantasy spinoffs... until Final Fantasy Dissidia NT came around. What a pile of s**t and a spit on the face for us Dissidia fans. No wonder that game went from £40 to £7.99 in less than one year!

Square-Enix is a company that is going downhill and only making amends by releasing Kingdom Hearts 3 and FF7 Remake. After that, what else is in store for this company?

For me, Square is definitely one of those up and down companies, but I don't feel it's one of the worst. They definitely made a few greedy moves in the past (never forget All the Bravest). They also ignore a lot of their series that deserve more love, from across all gaming eras (seriously, some of their forgotten PS1 gems DESERVE to be revived). But despite their blunders, they still put out some games that I enjoy. For example, I had a blast with Dragon Quest XI last year and am very happy that my favorite game in the series finally got a proper sequel. I'm also still very excited for Kingdom Hearts 3 (I am a little bummed about no FF characters appearing, but honestly the series is strong enough to stand on its own). I used to feel very similar about Capcom, but I feel like they're moving in a better direction nowadays (bringing back Mega Man and Devil May Cry, making RE horror again, etc.). So maybe there's hope that Square Enix can make a reform where the quality of games they release is much more consistently good.

If I had to pick the worst game company though, maybe even worse than EA, my vote is easy:

Konami.

Still, they did remaster FFT and Tactics Ogre for psp and mobile. Eternally grateful that I can play some of the greatest SRPG ever made on my oled vita.

I think Square still has some good games now and then - KH3 will likely be a confirmation of that. I enjoyed FF: 4 Heroes of Light even though many disliked it, since I was fond of how it did something different instead of the usual mana system in RPGs. Octopath Traveler looks like it could be a lot of fun for longtime JRPG fans such as myself. TWEWY, people went crazy about it years ago, and now I'm thinking of checking it out. The NIER games were pretty big hits. Dragon Quest still seems to be doing well and thriving even as FF has hit a slump. FF14 seems pretty popular as far as MMOs go. And, well, the Tomb Raider reboot seemed to have revived that dying series.

15 is also not where FF abandoned turn-based gameplay, that happened with 12. And let's not forget 13, either.

The lack of new Front Mission games is probably disappointing, but that is hardly the only game series that hasn't seen sequels or spin-offs in ages. What about Capcom with Breath of Fire, or Konami with good Castlevania games?

SE is hardly the worst game developer and is not even remotely on the level of EA or Activision.

I don't mind them. The quality of the FF games has definitely declined though. I do miss the turn-based combat.

@lembu90: the quality Final Fantasy franchise and long hiatus of Front Mission? Just two franchises enough to despise Square Enix? The Square side may have company issues, but the Enix side has improved more and more. Octopath Traveler belongs to the Enix side more than Square because Enix before the merger had been the publisher of other developers' games. Then again, Nintendo translated and published the game internationally because Enix didn't feel like directly distributing it themselves. There, I'd rather say Enix or Square.

You can say that Square Enix has increasingly so-so development team but increasingly decent publishing team especially since the merger.

They gave me DQ XI, nope.

Other than Tomb Raider and Hitman games, (which they didn’t even have anything to do with), I’ve never purchased a propor Square game. Anime games have never interested me so yes, they do suck.

But why’d you have to throw EA under the bus too? What’d they do wrong?

I feel like all Japanese game makers feel off a cliff...all of them...except Capcom the only one who got the memo.

Recent examples-

Mass Effect: Andromeda, Star Wars: Battlefront games, closing Visceral Games because they couldn't monopolies some game the team worked on, and finally turn renowned franchises into mobile microtranaction sims

Does this answer that question?

Nowhere close to the worse.

It's EA followed by Activision.

@RSM-HQ: Meh, not really. I’ve never cared for the Mass Effect games or anything related to Star Wars so I’m not affected.

@Sevenizz: That wasn't your question. You very clearly asked what EA have done wrong; not personally lacking an issue with EA yourself. And you got an answer_

If you like some games EA dish out, frankly that's fine, like what you like. Games are entertainment and if someone is liking what they develop it can't all be bad news.

Haven't personally bought an EA game since Dragon Age: Origin on P.C. and not something I enjoyed, and likely the last time I'll invest in an EA product. The above information only reassures me that's a wise choice.

From what I gather EA have micro transaction sport simulators and Battlefield keeping them relevant. Nothing else worth of positive note. Some use to like Burnout as well I guess, read rumors it's coming back.

@Ovirew: I deliberately not to mention Octopath Traveler because I know that game is weaponized nostalgia, designed to pander 30-something Nintendo fans who grew up playing 16-bit era FF games. Yes, it is good but it also a major step backward on what SE did for years. I also avoided myself talking about Dragon Quest XI because it is a massive flop in the west. In Japan it was a massive success, sold more than Persona 5 and FFXV put together but in the west it failed. Even with good reviews from journalists failed to impress western gamers. What really infuriates me that SE don't seem to be surprised or disappointed with the game's failure in the west. As if they really wanted the game to fail so they don't have to bring future DQ games to the west anymore expect for its action-based spinoffs such as Builders and Heroes which are better known there.

Back to Front Mission, Left Alive is another attempt to re-introduce the franchise to the west after the failure of Evolve 9 years ago. While nobody expect LA to be a "game of the year" material but it was disappointing that SE abandons what FM is best known for, wanzer battles. Instead LA is another shitty Metal Gear Solid clone with very little wanzer vs wanzer actions. You just play as human soldiers shooting at each other, setting traps, sneak around enemy patrols, etc. I rather play PS1-era MGS instead than a shitty ripoffs that don't deliver most of its promises.

As for Hitman and Tomb Raider games, both are not developed by SE, only published by them. Same goes for I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear. World of Final Fantasy could be the last major FF game to have turn-based battle system but sadly it was overshadowed by FFXV which released a month later(November 2016). Once again SE wants WoFF fail in order to make way for more FFXV. It was only recently that SE stopped making more single-player contents for FFXV after its director Tabata left the company in late 2018, effectively cancelling the planned Episode Noctis and Episode Luna DLCs while its online content still supported by them so far.

Back to FF again, the FFVI Remake doesn't look good. It was confirmed that it also abandoned turn-based battle system from the original, incorporating the similar hack-and-slash from FFXV instead. In fact its director, Tetsuya Nomura openly claimed that turn-based battle is obsolete for today's systems yet at same time DQ XI sold more than FFXV despite his claim. Episodic format already turned most people, even hardcore fans of original game off. Expect it to be milked by SE for many years to come.

SE might not be the worst video game developer I ever known. I reserve that for Destructive Creations and Yanderedev instead but SE definitely the worst video game developer that make games that aren't politically and racially motivated, unlike those two I already mentioned.

@lembu90: I don't really have a good answer for why SE does what SE does. At times it's irritating, because I know exactly the scope and style of games they could produce to bring FF back to good graces. It's the thinking that turn-based gameplay can somehow be "outdated" that prevents Square from producing FF games with fun gameplay, and even their attempts at more of an action-based RPG can be hit-and-miss. At least Kingdom Hearts still seems enjoyable after all of these years.

Likewise, I don't get why SE hardly brings Dragon Quest games outside of Japan. DQ Heroes was an awful game, it was the last PS4 game I played and I instantly regretted buying it at launch. I never knew a Dynasty Warriors game could be thaaaaat awful. Hyrule Warriors at least seemed a little better, but the whole experience has put me off of anything Dynasty Warriors. It's a shame SE promotes that and Builders, but still can't say for sure whether DQ 11 S is coming stateside. It's almost as if they think all foreigners only want hyper-realistic, games. I wonder which kinds of people gave them that idea?...

At the same time... I guess I don't care if SE ever makes a great big-budget FF game again. MMO people are happy with FF11 and FF14, us older guys are happy with games like Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler because graphics only have so much impact. If Square doesn't want more money, that's their decision. They're missing out on a whole lot of it. But we'll just give it to Atlus and Level-5 lol.

@Sevenizz: how old are are you?/ignorant of you...

But i digress and would pitch in BUGthesda (emphasis on BUGS) as perhaps the most overrated company of all time. Nice finally seeing people open their eyes on how much they get screwed over...

Don't want to delve into too much detail sure you guys can do the research ;)

@ineedabetterone: What are you asking me?

Pretty far from it. Activison, Ubisoft and Crytek worse. With EA being the absolute demon lord of companies.

I hate to revive this thread again but this is my personal response on Left Alive's extended gameplay trailer just released today(February 23). It is pretty much I expected: Crappy stealth mechanics, crappy shooting mechanics, bad character animations(both humans and wanzers), bad graphics(akin to early PS3/XBOX 360 game) and the list could go on. Perhaps the main attraction of the game, wanzer vs wanzer battles are just as crap as well. Once you board a wanzer, just spam as many bullet on enemy wanzer until it no longer shoot at you back. The most infuriating part about this game it got 31/40 from Famitsu. Only Dead or Alive 6(35/40) and Forgotton Anne(32/40) were rated higher than LA in the same issue. That's not surprising as Final Fantasy XIII got 40/40 when it reviewed by the magazine and it turned out to be a major disappointment when the game actually came out in 2009. In case you are wondering about the trailer I talking about, go see it for yourself.

Back to Front Mission series again, the original teams that worked on older FM games currently working on Project Stella which is rumored to be released in this year(2019). So far only very few screenshots ever published, no gameplay video and no other information other than it will be a mech strategy game. No information about western release etc. No one knows it will be a turn-based one like older FM games or real-time one but based on their past experience it could be a turn-based one but who knows they wanted to try some new ideas. At this point FM is officially dead with most if not all people who worked on previous games already left the company and it went from grid-based turn-based strategy RPG into cover-based third-person shooter, most likely to cash in the popularity of Metal Gear Solid and similar games in the west. Right after LA were released in Japan and west, nobody should talk about FM anymore and thank god we already have Phantom Brigade and Dual Gear as spiritual successors in the work.

Front Mission isn't the only turn-based game that got major "treatment" into real-time one and the developer of I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear, Tokyo RPG Factory recently unveils their latest project, Oninaki which is an action RPG that focused more on "action" part and less on "RPG" part. I don't know that Tokyo RPG Factory wants to try new ideas or was under massive pressure by Square-Enix to produce more action RPGs and less turn-based ones. Whatever it is the Tokyo RPG Factory is heading in the same ugly path of SE in order to get quick profits and popularity. Fortunately some other companies like Atlus and Falcom still making quality turn-based RPGs such as Caligula Effect: Overdose and English translation of Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel respectively.

Despite all of this SE still not the worst publisher in the world. That belongs to Electronic Arts who recently destroyed Bioware by pressuring the developer to make a multiplayer shooter instead of what it was best known for: single-player RPGs.

I kinda agree with the TC here but I did really love Octopath Traveler. I’m happy for the remakes but I want more from them.

I always though Famitsu overrate their scores. Maybe Square-Enix bribed them.

Activision-Blizzard had a record setting year that lead to 800 employees getting laid off while their CEO pocketed a multi-million dollar bonus.

So I beg to differ.

I dont think they are the worst company as they still believe in single player BUT I do think they are really badly managed. Really should buy some sony or nintendo execs for them to teach Square how to properly make games and deliver on time.

There loads of dicks moves they made. The one I was most shocked by escapes my memory right now as none of the games mentioned so far ever piqued my interest. I'll let you all know if I remember. Could have been to do with a mechwarrior game...

I think Square is easily one of my favorite developers and publishers. Might be my #1 if I thought about it. Has to be right up there. A giant percent of their games I actually care about. Ea and especially Activision barely even make games anymore. Konami is gone. Sega’s pretty great but doesn’t make as much. Nintendo’s pretty great but has franchises I don’t care about st all. Sony might be r only other publisher putting out as much I care about, and even then I doubt it’s as much.

I have to admit I haven't really played any of their current games, but I loved their earlier ones (e.g. the Heroes of... and Secret of ... series)!

This post is like 25 years late honestly... but I kinda agree I guess.

Not-so shocking news, Left Alive currently being roasted by Japanese gamers. The website also offers almost 3k yen discount less than a week after its debut. At the time I write this, 72% of the users gave 1 one out 5 stars. Most of them mentioned of bad level designs, bad control schemes, bad animations and graphics. With two day away from its western launch, things aren't looking good but there is no doubt LA will be sold much better in the west as they are the prime target audience of the game.

Square is just fine. They're just a few steps away from being best in business, just can't quite do it.

Nope for me... Kingdom Hearts 3 was such a fun game to play from start to finish. Dragon Quest 11 is such a great game. Also while Tomb Raider is not developed by them, the reboot trilogy was amazing (even if Shadow was a bit weaker). Also, while very flawed, World of Final Fantasy is still good Turn Based Pokemon-like RPG with unique system.

It's official that SE killed Front Mission with Left Alive. LA was eaten alive by critics and consumers alike. It already confirmed what I hate about the game. Now the biggest question is will SE make any more FM game? SE may had enough with FM and no more FM games were planned after this. That could be their best decision as of today, there's no place for turn-based FM game anymore as the increasing popularity of Super Robot Wars and SD Gundam G Generation series to non-Japanese gamers in recent years. Not to mention some indie projects such as Phantom Brigade and Dual Gear will fill the niche that left behind by FM. Perhaps like Grandia, FM might stay dead after this.

Front Mission is dead. Long live Front Mission.